Bank of Israel employees launched sanctions today to protest delays in the signing of a new wage agreement. The initial sanctions will be targeted at the bank’s management, and will not affect the public, the banking system, cash flow, or foreign currency activity.
The sanctions are aimed at the Ministry of Finance, and specifically against Director of Wages Eli Cohen, although the Bank of Israel workers’ leverage is against the bank’s management rather than the government.
The Bank of Israel employees are threatening to shut down the bank altogether if Cohen exercises his ultimatum and orders scores of bank employees to return salaries and benefits which he claims were illegally paid.
A top government legal advisor told “Globes” that in order to hold a hearing procedure for each employee, it would be necessary to set up a labor tribunal that would deal exclusively with the Bank of Israel. Alternatively, a labor court would have to clear its docket of all of cases. A case could last 2-3 years for employees raising difficulties.
The legal advisor added that dozens to hundreds of claims have been filed against employees who owe from NIS 60,000 to NIS 1 million. She said that if employees return the excess salaries and benefits paid since December 2003, the aggregate amount would total NIS 60-90 million. If the court accepts the Ministry of Finance’s position that excess salaries and benefits paid since 1993 should be returned, the total could reach hundreds of millions of shekels.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 7, 2007
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